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Sniper
Sniper was a heavyweight robot that competed in Dutch Robot Wars: Series 1. It performed reasonably well, winning its first two battles over MaxiMill and NEAT Machine before falling to Sater on a close Judges' decision. Design Sniper was a dome wedge-shaped robot designed to resemble an alligator. It was armed with a pneumatic flipper and rear mounted spikes. The spikes were designed to look like protruding sniper rifle barrels, which resulted in Sniper's name. The team took pride in Sniper's virtually impenetrable armour, which could take a hit from a claw hammer and remain completely unscathed. The flipper was powerful enough to throw robots over comfortably, but Sniper was hindered by its wedge not lining up with the floor, and the robot's very slow top speed. Qualification Sniper was built ahead of the first Dutch series of Robot Wars, and after passing all relevant auditions and tech checks, it competed on the show. It is unknown whether Sniper made any sort of application for Dutch Series 2. A robot named Sniper 1 was listed among the competitors planned to appear in German Robot Wars''https://web.archive.org/web/20160108211306/http://forum.roboteers.org/thread.php?postid=19887. Although this entry is not directly confirmed to be the same entry as the Dutch competitor Sniper, this is a likely possibility, due to Michael Hanser's involvement with the German robot Reaper NP2 in UK Series 7, and the ongoing build of a "Sniper 2" successor for the same series. Nevertheless, Sniper 1 did not compete in the German series for unknown reasons. The new version of Sniper was completed in 2003, boasting a more compact design and dual weaponry with its rear disc and forked flipping weapon. It attempted to enter the Seventh Wars but lost its qualifier battle and thus was not selected to compete. Instead, Michael Hanser entered Tartarus on behalf of its absent team, also representing Germany with Reaper NP2 under the captaincy of Bryan Cutler. Robot History Dutch Series 1 In the first round battle with MaxiMill, both machines started rather slowly. Sniper got itself wedged on the pit, and MaxiMill pressed the pit release button. The pit descended underneath Sniper, but its long body prevented it from going down, and just managed to reverse away from danger. The pair continued by pushing each other around the arena, until MaxiMill reversed near the pit. Sniper took full advantage of this, by shoving MaxiMill onto the edge and eventually down the pit of oblivion. In the next round, it faced World Championship competitor NEAT Machine. Sniper almost immediately went for the pit release tyre this time, while NEAT Machine slammed into Sniper with the axe. Sniper's response was to flip NEAT Machine over. Despite numerous, desperate attempts to self right with the axe, and with the tyre that was touching the ground, NEAT Machine was counted out by the Refbot, putting Sniper through to the Heat Final. There in the Heat Final, Sniper fought Sater for a place in the Grand Final. For the second battle in a row, Sniper's first tactic was to go for the pit release. Sater drove into the front of Sniper, but Sniper mistimed its flip. It then appeared to successfully draw Sater onto the flame pit and keep it there for a while. After Sater got away, the time ran out and the battle went to a decision by the Jury, which went against Sniper. Results |} Wins/Losses *Wins: 2 *Losses: 1 Series Record Dutch Series UK Series NOTE: A robot named Sniper 1 withdrew from the German series of Robot Wars, which may have been the same machine. References Trivia *Had Sniper competed in the German and British series it reportedly attempted to qualify for, it would have joined Philipper as the only robot to appear in all three European variants of Robot Wars. Category:Dutch Robots Category:Dutch Series competitors Category:Robots with Spikes Category:Robots with more Wins than Losses Category:Animal Based Robots Category:Robots with Rear-hinged Flippers